The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the delivery of online education courses, but higher education institutions and the US Department of Education are now asking questions about the efficacy of online coursework.
The question is especially important for community college students, who appear to struggle with completing coursework online. Prior studies have shown that community college students not only perform poorly in online classes, but also perform poorly in subsequent courses that depend on prior work. Additionally, community college students abandon educational programs at a higher rate after taking online courses.
That means online courses pose a serious risk to community college students. Now, both the State of California and the US Department of Education want more information about community college students’ performance in online learning environments. While California’s universities are primarily interested in the quality of online courses, the US Department of Education is collecting information to help determine whether these programs will continue to be eligible for federal financial aid.
Currently, about half of California community college students take online courses, and would like more online options, data show that students enrolled in online classes perform worse than students enrolled in the same class delivered in person. Students enrolled in synchronous online courses, where the students and teacher meet simultaneously online (like a Zoom call), perform better than those in asynchronous courses, where the student self-manages completing coursework, and may not encounter other students or the instructor at any time during the course.
One contentious proposal by the US Department of Education revolves around collecting attendance data for online students. Community colleges argue that taking attendance for online courses would be difficult, since the Department of Education’s proposed definition of attendance does not typically conform to the way students complete coursework in asynchronous classes.
Online education may get additional regulation
Community colleges are reluctant to change the number of asynchronous courses they offer because they are more popular than synchronous courses. Making changes to asynchronous course offerings would likely result in lost income for community colleges.
Some California colleges are proposing strategies to fix the recognized quality issues in asynchronous courses. These include adding more tutors, academic counselors, and other supports to improve student performance of online students.
Researchers from the University of California and the University of Pennsylvania found that online courses have greater appeal to older students, but their performance lags that of students in the same course delivered in person. What the researchers were unable to answer is why asynchronous online students performed worse. Researchers speculated that the students who are likely to prefer asynchronous online courses may have competing responsibilities (like work and family care) that interfere with their ability to get the coursework completed without additional support.
It is unlikely that the US Department of Education will abandon its pursuit of higher quality for asynchronous online education at the community college level. Additionally, the Department’s interest in the matter will likely result in new regulations for community colleges that offer online coursework. Until then, students may be left to wonder about the quality of the online courses they sign up for.
Photo Credit: casjsa , via Flickr
